


Together

by KillTheNoise



Category: The Long Walk - Richard Bachman
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fix-It, I Will Go Down With This Ship, M/M, Retelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-10-12 17:43:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10496262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KillTheNoise/pseuds/KillTheNoise
Summary: "That peaceful expression… he had no right! Others pushed on until their very minds failed them. And McVries was still sitting down."OR: Garraty manages to pull McVries to his feet. If by the end of the book you curled into a tiny ball, at the mercy of your own feels, this one's for you.





	

“No Ray, it’s time to sit down.”

Terror pounded Garratty’s chest as he watched McVries smile up at him from the ground. Garraty rushed to him, tried to pick McVries up but his muscles protested and his pulls were weak. McVries wouldn’t even look at him. His eyes were shut.

McVries was already on his third warning. The soldiers started making their way to put a bullet in his head.

“Leave him,” Stebbins said from his right and Garraty was surprised he didn’t just continue walking. “You made a promise like the rest of us.”

“Fuck you,” Garraty said distinctly, then studied McVries’s expression. That peaceful expression… he had no right! Others pushed on until their very minds failed them. Garraty felt betrayed and the betrayal made room for a rage so tremendous, that he didn’t know what to do with himself. He was angry at Stebbins for trying to drag him away, angry at the Crowd for watching them like they weren’t human beings anymore, angry at the Major and the soldiers.

And McVries was still sitting down.

By the time Garraty knew what he was doing, he’d already thrown a punch. Mcvries’s head snapped to the side with the force of it and his eyes opened in surprise. The soldiers were roughly a few feet away from them, so Garraty grabbed him and yanked with a strength that should’ve been impossible at this stage of the Walk. Black dots threatened to cloud his vision, but that didn’t matter.

McVries was on his feet.

Garraty grabbed his hand tightly and started walking. He paid no attention to the screaming muscles in his feet, didn’t even hear the Crowd’s maddening cheers. He would’ve gone crazy if he had. _Rule 8, no interference with other Walkers,_ _Rule 8 no interference with other Walkers,_ his mind chanted all over again, _Why am I not dead?_

He stared at the road.

*

Stebbins was his motivation. If Stebbins was still on his feet and walking, Garraty would be pulling McVries after him until the end of time. He would not stop until Stebbins fell. He could not. He held onto that thought akin to a drowning man holding onto a life belt. His mind and body felt like two separated entities. He pretended that the ache tormenting his whole body belonged to someone else and somewhere along the line, it became true.

Then Stebbins went down.

Garraty wasn’t there to see it, because Stebbins fell behind at some point during the Walk. He only heard the thud his body made when it hit the ground and then the soldiers’ shots. His eyes instinctively shifted towards the sound but he didn’t slow down, didn’t even turn his head. He knew that if he did, he wouldn’t be able to continue walking. He had a death grip on McVries’s hand until he was sure it hurt, but McVries didn’t say anything. They haven’t spoken one word since Garraty pulled him on his feet. Garraty wanted to turn around and look at him.

_Just go on dancing with me like this forever and I'll never tire. We'll scrape our shoe on the stars and hang upside down from the moon._

Their feet shuffled the dirt. He looked at the road. 

*

Garraty’s feet felt like they were made of lead, but his mind screamed at him again and again that he couldn’t slow down because if he did, he would get his third warning at the same time McVries got a bullet in his head.

He also felt like he might be going crazy because, as he was pulling McVries after him, he got the distinct feeling that between the two of them he was the tired one. After a couple of seconds, Garraty became certain that McVries would continue to walk when he fell.

His nails dug into McVries’s palm and every step he took sent a new jolt of pain through his body. He found himself thinking _Damn Pete. Damn him to hell._ There was a subtle but certain irony in the notion that McVries, who was prepared to die, would end up outlasting him. He wanted to laugh, but what came out of him was a weak wheeze that shook his entire body.

He was looking at the ground, watching one deformed foot coming in front of the other. Then he became terribly confused, because the ground seemed to be getting closer and closer. He was lying on solid ground and he understood. A sigh escaped his lips. He knew that he wouldn’t be getting up so he didn't try.

_Jan, mom I’m sorry, I…_

Something heavy fell right on top of him. The wind got knocked out of his lungs. Everything went dark.

*

_Someone’s holding my hand._

Garraty opened his eyes and found himself staring into the relieved faces of his mom and girlfriend. He was shocked into a silence that stretched for one second too long, and it gave him time to notice his surroundings. He was in a hospital room.

Jan was the first one to react, as she let out a scream and hugged him, pressing him against her. Garraty glanced at his mom and found her smiling through her tears.

“I’m not dead.” he said and his flat tone made both of them flinch. ”Why?’’

“They called it a draw because No. 61 fell on top of you. The Walk’s never had a draw before and, well, I don’t think they know what to do yet. But Ray… you’re _alive_.” Jan looked at him expectantly, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

“Pete.” Garraty said after a couple of seconds. “His name’s Pete. Where is he?” He felt something in the pit of his stomach twisting and turning.

“He’s here too,” his mom answered. “In the hospital. He hasn’t woken up yet, but the doctors say he will. He’s fine Ray.” She gave his hand a squeeze, and Garraty felt a weight lifting off his shoulders.

He felt a little more like himself again.

*

When Garraty woke up the room was quiet and he felt relieved. There was an emptiness lurking beneath his skin now and strangely enough, it was due to his mom and Jan’s visit. Baker, Olson, Scramm, Abraham… all of them were gone and no matter how much they showered him with love and compassion, they couldn’t get him. _Jan_ couldn’t get him.

And how could they? They were there, but at the same time they _weren’t_. When it came to it, there was only Stebbins, himself and…

Garraty saw movement in the corner of his eye. His lips squeezed and formed a thin line when he saw McVries sitting beside his bed, watching him in silence. Garraty only looked at him, as if seeing him for the first time. Maybe he was. Things seemed different between them. The room stood still.

He was still looking at McVries’s pale face when, out of nowhere, Garraty wanted to reach out and hug him. He was appalled when he realized that he was seconds away from crying. _You need to control yourself_. _Do it with Jan but not Pete, not in front of him god please-_

Luckily, he didn’t have to. McVries wrapped his arms around him, burying his face in the space between Garraty’s neck and shoulder. He was clinging to Garraty like a dying man and that was so strange and unlike him that Garraty didn’t know what to do, so he kept still. Then, he did the only thing he could. Garraty held onto him tightly and promised that things would be alright, even if he didn’t know if they would be. He passed a hand through McVries’s dark hair and thought that he’d rather have this. Instead of enduring the emotional vacuity he felt with Jan, he’d bear the pain he felt right now. If it was McVries he had to bear it with, maybe they could make it.

“You really are sweet Ray.” McVries said to him when they parted. His gaze was unguarded and so gentle that it made Garraty unable to speak even if he tried. “You’re so fucking sweet.”

Their lips found each other in the dimly lit room. Judging by their shapes against the wall, you wouldn’t say they were two boys kissing, but two shadows sitting closely to one another. Together.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't expect I'll get comments/kudos since this fandom is basically dead? (not sure tbh) But if you're reading this and find it in your heart to leave me a kudo or a comment, you'll be making my day x10 better! ^/^


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